benjamin



D. `H. BENJAMIN.

SHIRT PRESSING MACHINE. APPLICATION HLED 1AN.2'0, m1.

1 gyg Patented Nov. 18, 1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

n. H. BENJAMIN. SHIRT FRESSING MACHINE.

APILICATION FILED IAN.20, 191?.

Patentd NOVI 18, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2` 5I' j2V?? //r///////// l/// D. H. BENJAMIN.

SHIRT PRESSING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED .IAII.20, |917.

l ,$22,284. Patemed Nov. 18, 1919.

A 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

DANA H. BENJAMIN, F CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN LAUNDRY MACHINERY COMPANY, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, A CORPORATION-OF OHIO.

/ 4 v SHIRT-PRESSING MACHINE.

To all whom t may concern:

chine hereinafter lpart obvious and in Be it known that I, DANA H. BENJAMIN,l

citizen of the 'United States, residing at Cleveland Heights, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shirt- Pressing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to ironing machines such as are used for ironing stock shirts. T e object of the invention is to provide an improved machine for ironing shirt bosoms after buttoning the shirt, in a manner to avoid pressing down the buttons into the goods and doing away with the common liat effect or the formation of wrinkles or creases in the button hole strip if the shirt is but- 4toned after ironing, and which machine leaves the buttons standing up from a well ironed stripl and consequently enhances and improves the appearance of the shirt and increases its Value in trade. n

Furtherfobjects of the invention are in part will appear more in'detail hereinafter.

The invention comprises the ironing madescribed and claimed.

In the drawings, which represent one form of ironing machine with the invention applied thereto, Figure 1 is a front elevation; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the ironing chest; Fig. 3 is a similiar view, showing a modified form of chest; Fig. 4 is a left side elevation; Fig. 5 is a cross section, on a larger scale, through the chest and board, the section be* ing taken on the line 5 5, Fig. 7 Fig. 6 is a plan view of one side of the machine; Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section on the line 7-7, Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a plan view, on a larger scale, of the neck band support, showing the same contracted; Fig. 9 is a rear elevation thereof; Fig. 10 is a plan view, showing the neck band support expanded; and ig. 11 is a view showing the neck band support in side elevation and a central longitudinal section through the board.

The machine shownin the drawings is one of several different types of ironing machine to which the invention may be applied and has been selected merely for purposes of illustration. Generally speaking it is of the form shown in a prior application for laundry machine-ry, Serial Number 840,192, led May 22, 1914, by myself and James G.

Alber, to which reference may be had for Specification of Letters Patent.

'with on the two standards ,Patented Nov. 18, 1919.

Application led January 20, 1917. Serial N o. 143,462.

details unnecessary here to describe. It comprises a suitable baseor support 1 provided front and rear standards 2 and 3, and two side standards 4. The front and rear standards are provided at their upper ends with journal bearings 5 for a shaft 6 which is provided with arms '7 carrying a hollow ironing chest 8 heated in any suitable manner, as by circulating steam or other heating medium through its chamber 9. The chest 8 has two parallel oppositely disposed ironing faces 10 which coperate alternately with two separate ironing boards located 4, and is rocked back and forth from board to `board by manipulating the hand-lever 11 on the front end of shaft' 6 and thereby oscillating said shaft in its bearings. To produce the linal ironing pressure the shaft 6 is provided on its rear end with pressure arms 12 at opposite angles of 90O to the chest, and said chest is counterbalanced by a weight 13 on an arm 14. When the chest is brought down into pressing relation with either board, as shown in Fig. l, the curved end of any arm l2 is adjacent a cam 15 driven by suitable operating mechanism indicated at 16 and controlled by a rocking and sliding. rod 17 provided with a rocker arm 18 carrying a pivoted hand lever 19 engaging the e-nd of rod 17. By rocking the lever 19 from side to Side and pulling it back and forth, as described in the prior application referred to, the operating mechanism may be caused to rotate the cam in either direction at will, whereby said cam engages the arm 12 and applies heavy ironing pressure to the chest..

The two ironing boards are identical in construction, so that description of one will suffice for Iboth. Each standard 4 carries a head 20 which supports the yielding plate 21 on which 1s an ironing board support 22 having a longitudinal recess to receive a rounded rib 28 on the bottom of the ironing board 24 whose rear end is curved, as at 25, to coperate with the yoke ironer or clamping member 26 ope-rated by the foot treadle 27, as in said prior application. In the support 22 is an 'arm 28 engaging a recess in the ttom of the board, said arm being carried by a shaft 29 extending out through a sleeve 30 and provided with. an operating handle 31 by means of which the board may be adjusted lon itudinally on the support 22. The n band of the shirt is held by a.

'ri'b 37 on said plate.

former or support shown in Figs. 8 to 11. lt comprises a plate member 32 having a block 33 fitting a transverse recess inthe board so that said plate is always moved or adjusted with the board. Two longitudinal slots 34 in said plate allow it to move relatively to two pins 35 attached at their lower ends to the support 22 and at their upper ends to the front curved body portion 36 which has sliding engagement with a T The plate is also provided with lateral guides 38 for the back body portions 39 which are connected by crossed links 40 to the short arms of bell crank 'levers 41 whose longer arms are provided with slots to receive the central pin 42 on the stationary bod 35, and on which pin is the clamping mem er 43. `With thisv arrangement, as the board is adjusted reary wardly the plate 32 is moved back, carrying with it the back body portionsl39 which also move laterally and thereby expand the neck band support. f.

The board is provided with a suitable cushion or padding which comprises several layers of different materials superposed upon each other, as shown in Fig. y5, although for clearness of illustration the thicknesses of material have been somewhat exaggerated in the drawings. The chief element of the cushion is a soft rubber inemp ber 44 of material thickness and of a form resilient to pressure, yalthough rubber is not essential and other materials may be used. Between said member and the metal plate 24 are locatedl a layer or sheet 45 of asbestos and a layer 46 of Atlas cloth. Above the rubber padA are several layers 47 of felt and the outer layer 48 of cover cloth.

The rubber pad is provided along its middle longitudinal line with a series of recesses or slots 49 separated by the strengthening bridges or bonds 50. said slots being of approximately the width of a shirt button and being covered by the continuous layers 47 and 48 of felt and cover cloth. The upper surface of the ironing board pad therefore has a smooth unbroken appearance.

Each ironing surface of thechest, directly above the line of recesses in the padding of the board, is also provided with a recess or .recessesfor the buttons. Fig. 3 shows a single longitudinally extending groove or channel 51 while Fig. 4 shows a series of separate recesses, 51a, either form being suitable for the purpose. The edges Aof the grooves are rounded off, as at- 52, and said grooves are slightly narrower than the re-l cesses in the rubber pad, to prevent leaving an imprint on the goods. The separate recesses 51a of a 'button and are spaced apart a.pprox1 mately the standard distances between buttons.

ln use of the apparatus the shirt is first iron'ed in the usual way so as to finish the neck band, yoke, cu's sleeves and body, the button strip and button hole strip being preferably also ironed, although the button strip may be left unfinished if desired. The shirt is then buttoned up and dressed on one of the ironing boards in which position each of its buttons lies over one of the recesses in the rubber pad. The heated chest is then brought down into ironing relation with the are each longer than the diameter,

shirt and pressure is applied thereto. The

recesses in the pad and chest, however, prevent the application of pressure to the buttons, which enter the groove or recesses in the chest and may be pressed partly down into the pad recesses. The ironing member irons out any wrinkles which may have been formed in buttoning up the shirt so that in the completed garment the buttons stand up from the smooth nicely finished surrounding surface of the button hole strip.

This machine produces a high gradefinished shirt having its appearance greatly improved by the manner of treating ythe buttons, as the latter are not pressed down into the goods and not onlyy do not have a flat appearance but" are more readily taken hold of in opening the shirt.

What I claim is 1. An ironing machine, 'comprising lan ironing board and a chest movable relatively to each other, one thereof bein provided with a pad, said pad and the 4c est being provided with registering button receiving recesses. 7

2. An ironing machine, comprising' an ironing board and a chest movable relatively to each other, one thereof being provided with a rub'ber pad, said pad and the chest being provided with registering button receiving-recesses.

3. An ironing machine, comprising an ironing board and a chest movable relatively to each other, said board being provided with a yielding pad, said pad being provided with a centrally disposed button receiving recess, said `chest being provided with a cooperating recess in registering relation with the recess of the pad and a coverin ver said pad on the board.

testimony whereof I affix my signature.

i DANA H. BENJAMIN. 

